Is continuing a specific tradition always a good thing for everyone? Sometimes it is easy to get wrapped up into a tradition and end up blindly following that tradition. In “The Lottery” Shirley Jackson exposes the readers of this story to a village of people following a barbaric form of tradition for the sake of having prosperous crops. Through the use of irony, symbols, and characters, Shirley Jackson presents the theme that blindly following tradition can keep people from realizing the fault in their actions, and that sometimes it is necessary to question tradition.
At the beginning of this story the readers are automatically introduced to an ironic setting. Jackson leads the reader to believe the story will be happy by describing the
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Stones in particular are mentioned over and over again throughout this story. The stones are first introduced to the readers in the beginning of the story when Jackson states, “Bobby Martin had already stuffed his pockets full of stones, and the other boys soon followed his example, selecting the smoothest and roundest stones” (259). Stones use to be the most archaic from of execution, dating back to historic traditions. Since this story is revolved around a gruesome tradition of sacrifice; it is fitting to use stones as a symbol of the tradition. Archetypal symbolism is represented through the color of the box used to draw names out of. When the box is first brought out and described as a, “black wooden box” (259), it is made clear that anything to do with the box would have to do with death. Not only does the box serve as archetypal symbolism for death based of its color, but it also symbolizes the idea of not wanting to stray away from tradition. When Shirley Jackson states that Mr. Summers had spoken of making a new box she adds in the line: “but no one wanted to upset even as much tradition as was presented by the black box” (259). All these symbols relate to the village people being stuck in their old ways of …show more content…
Tessie serves as a character that realizes the tradition is not always fair or right. After Tessie draws the black dot and is about to face death she screams to the village people, “’It isn’t fair, it isn’t right’” (265). Sometimes, just as Tessie did, people realize the wrongfulness in tradition only when it doesn’t go their way, and when it is ultimately too late to make a change. Other people may begin to question tradition before any wrong doing is done to them. The character Mrs. Adams makes the statement when talking to Old Man Warner that, “Some places have already quit lotteries” (263). Mrs. Adams is the character that seems to question tradition and is more likely to stray way from the tradition. Other characters such as Old Man Warner serve to show the readers that some people may never stray away from tradition. After bashing the people in the north village who are talking of giving up the lottery, Old Man Warner says, “There’s always been a lottery” (262). The way Old Man Warner emphasizes the word “always” offers insight to the readers that this tradition will never be strayed from in this village. Each of these characters played a very different role in tying into the theme of this story.
The theme In “The lottery” is that blindly following tradition can keep people from realizing the fault in their actions, and that sometimes it is necessary to question tradition. This theme is revealed
Tradition is a central theme in Shirley Jackon's short story The Lottery. Images such as the black box and characters such as Old Man Warner, Mrs. Adams, and Mrs. Hutchinson display to the reader not only the tenacity with which the townspeople cling to the tradition of the lottery, but also the wavering support of it by others. In just a few pages, Jackson manages to examine the sometimes long forgotten purpose of rituals, as well as the inevitable questioning of the necessity for such customs.
Tradition is an evil dictator. Tradition can be simple or complex. Tradition has the power to force someone to do something or not do something. In Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery”, the reader gets an uneasy feeling that tradition dictates everything. Jackson makes it obvious that this village is run completely on tradition and that everyone fears change.
Today tradition is a strong part of out lives. We do not have any traditions that are as extreme as the lottery, however “The Lottery” symbolizes that relevance can be lost over time. Take the Bible for example, it has been written and rewritten several times over thousands of years, translated from one language to another and then to another. Even over the relatively short period of time in “The Lottery” many thing had been lost from there tradition. “At one time, some people remembered, there had been a recital of some sort, performed by the official of the lottery, a perfunctory, tuneless chant that had been rattled off duly each year; some people believed that the official of the ...
In the plot, Jackson foreshadows the horror which is due to come. The children are taught from a young age about the process which takes place for the death of a person, they prepare for this event by collecting “a great pile of stones” which is used later on in the persecution of Mrs. Hutchinson (1 Jackson). This illustrates that children have been indoctrinated to think that the death of a human is unimportant, and considered normal. They look at this event as a game instead of a serious
As old man Warner said, "There 's always been a lottery” (Jackson 4). This shows that the villagers have a lack of ability to change over time. No person in the town would stand up and say that this violent ritual was absurd, making them all out to be hypocrites just as Tessie was. Instead of doing so, one villager, Mr. Adams, comments that other towns around them were giving up the lottery, as if to suggest their town should do so as well. In reply old man Warner said, "Pack of crazy fools” (Jackson 4), and then, "Listening to the young folks, nothings good enough for them” (Jackson 4). Old man Warner can in a sense be seen as a symbol of the town and their lack of change. He disapproves of anything that isn’t what he views as a traditional social practice. Old man Warner’s quick defense of the lottery implies that he sees change as an attack on himself and his beliefs. Blindly following tradition can cause the rejection of non-conformity in a society, even those traditions that are full of
This seeming universal support is ultimately shown to be a claim, rather than a true belief. For when Tessie Hutchinson is chosen in the lottery, she quickly inverts her values of tradition over self, and acts in self-preservation. She is targeted, “and she held her hands out desperately as the villagers moved in on her. ‘It isn’t fair,’ she said. Old Man Warner was saying, ‘Come on, come on, everyone.’ … ‘It isn’t fair, it isn’t right,’ Mrs. Hutchinson screamed” (415). Here the true colors of the community are shown, and the fallacy in Old Man Warner’s logic of the value of tradition being self-evident is clear. While Mrs. Hutchinson supported the lottery by agreeing to take part in it, once she is chosen, she begins her protest, and attacks the tradition itself. She holds her hands out and claims that the fact she was chosen is not fair. This directly contrasts with
The town's citizens are eager, gathering in the town square in order to take part in the yearly lottery. With the story focused around one particular family, the Hutchinsons, who are so anxious to get it all over with until they find that one of their members is to participate in the lottery's closing festivities, Tessie. Of course, unlike your typical lotteries, this is not one that you would want to win. The one chosen from the lottery is to undertake a cruel and unusual death by stoning at the hands of their fellow townsmen for the sake that it may bring a fruitful crop for the coming harvest season. Ironically, many of the towns people have suggested that the lottery be put to an end, but most find the idea unheard of being that they have lived in it's practice for most of their lives.
The short story “ The Lottery ” the author Shirley Jackson uses symbolism and imagery to develop a theme the brings forth the evil and inhumane nature of tradition and the danger of when it’s carried out with ignorance.
“The less there is to justify a traditional custom, the harder it is to get rid of it” (Twain). The Lottery begins during the summer. A small, seemingly normal, town is gathering to throw the annual “Lottery”. In the end, the townspeople—children included—gather around and stone the winner to death, simply because it was tradition. The story reveals how traditions can become outdated and ineffective. “I suppose, I hoped, by setting a particularly brutal ancient rite in the present and in my own village to shock the story's readers with a graphic dramatization of the pointless violence and general inhumanity in their own lives” (Jackson). As humans develop as a race, their practices should develop with them. Shirley Jackson develops the theme that blindly following traditions is dangerous in her short story “The Lottery” through the use of symbolism, foreshadowing, and irony.
In conclusion, traditions can be beneficial, or they can be hurtful. The tradition of the lottery may not be the best, however, it has happened many times before and traditions are difficult to let go. In “The Lottery”, the reader is able to see how the villagers feel about the lottery through indirect characterization. Also, Jackson uses symbolism to reveal that the villagers do not want to change anything about the lottery. Finally, situational irony takes a substantial role in how the reader understands the short story. Jackson's “The Lottery” represents the reactions of people when they know that a tradition is not worth keeping but they do not want to do anything about it.
Answer : He means that the names in the story are different and the ways that come characters which to see someone die and others do not believe the lottery. Tessie is singled out because she was being suspicious and shouts at Mr. Summers that he did not give enough time to Bill to choose. So she thinks it isn't fair.
In "The Lottery" Shirley Jackson fills her story with many literary elements to mask the evil. The story demonstrates how it is in human nature to blindly follow traditions. Even if the people have no idea why they follow.
Each year all of the townspeople would stone someone as a tradition. The characters in this story would stone those they loved or had strong relationships with; however, when it came time for the lottery, none of that would matter anymore. While the men were picking papers from the black box, Mrs. Hutchison was talking to Mrs. Delacroix out in the crowd. Surprisingly, when it came time for Mrs. Hutchinson to be stoned, Mrs. Delacroix was the most shocking individual in this story. Jackson wrote, “Mrs. Delacroix selected a stone so large she had to pick it up with both hands…” (379). In “The Lottery”, it is shocking to see how the characters are friendly one minute and treacherous the next. Both of these stories deal with betrayal and conforming to society. The characters in each story did whatever those around them were doing, whether it was acceptable or
Then stood at the front of the crowd when the stoning begins. The symbolism with the black box is its relation to the tradition of the lottery. The box is old and falling a part highlighting upon the fact that towns are starting to get
Traditions have excited in many cultures, and they have been in many generations. They make us who we are and where we come from. Our ancestors gave us traditional clothes to foods and even the religious beliefs. Only because we have traditions it will not mean we should follow every single one. We cannot follow bad traditions and justified them only because they were in our generations and even when there is a good one we do not follow them because they will not fit in the modern world.